The invention is based on an apparatus for sterilizing, filling and sealing containers. Before being put into operation each time, the individual chambers as well as the filling and sealing devices built into them in such apparatus are sterilized by having a sterilizing agent in gaseous or vapor form, such as a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and air, flow through them and act on them for a predetermined period of time. To that end, the device for feeding the sterilizing agent into and through the chambers is designed so as to have the sterilizing agent flow in one direction through the chambers in succession. It sometimes happens that in corners reached only poorly by the sterilizing agent, germs will serve and will get into containers and into the product to be placed in them.
The apparatus according to the invention has the advantage over the prior art that by reversing the flow direction of the sterilizing agent in the sterilization chamber and in the filling and sealing chamber, places in the lee of one flow direction are reached in the opposite flow direction, thus substantially increasing the reliability of the sterilization. Another advantage is that with increased sterilization reliability, the length of time needed to presterilize the apparatus is shortened, thus reducing the consumption of a sterilizing agent.
The invention will be better understood and further objects and advantages thereof will become more apparent from the ensuing detailed description of a preferred embodiment taken in conjunction with the drawings.